- Musk de Lumière
- The materials
- Elemi
The materials · Resins
Elemi
The peppered light
- Botanical name
- Canarium luzonicum
- Origin
- Philippines
- Part used
- Gum resin
- Extraction
- Supercritical CO2
From Philippines to the atelier in New Jersey
Elemi is a resin that behaves like a citrus. It weeps from a tropical tree and it smells of pepper and lemon peel with a frankincense depth underneath, which makes it one of the few base materials I can place at the top of a composition. It opens a chapter the way a resin should close one.
What elemi is
Elemi is the soft, fragrant resin of Canarium luzonicum, the pili tree, a tall evergreen of the Philippine forests. The resin is gathered by tapping the trunk and is pale, soft and sticky when fresh, hardening slowly in the air. Our elemi is a supercritical CO2 extract, which captures the fresh limonene and elemol top of the resin along with its deeper balsamic body, without the harshness that steam distillation can bring. The result is a bright, peppery, lemony material with a soft resinous heart.
Where our elemi comes from
Canarium luzonicum grows in one country on earth: the Philippines, where the pili tree is native to the forests of Luzon and the Bicol region and where its resin has been gathered for centuries. Our formula books record the species, and the species records the place. The warm, wet Philippine climate keeps the resin soft and fresh, and the elemi gathered there has the bright, almost citrus top that makes it so useful in an opening.
How elemi smells
Pepper and citrus, a green top with a frankincense like base. It opens sharp and lemony with a dry peppery bite, then settles into a soft, clean, resinous warmth with a faint green freshness.
Elemi in our chapters
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IIParadis de BleuThe Leaves · in the opening
In Paradis de Bleu it sits in the opening beside the citrus and herbs, the resin that brings a peppery light to the leaves.
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VIImpériale OudThe First Root · in the opening
In Impériale Oud it joins litsea, thyme and cinnamon at the opening, the bright resin that hints at the oud waiting beneath.
A note from the atelier
Elemi is my way of putting a resin at the top of a tree. It carries the scent of the base up into the first minutes, so that a chapter feels whole from the first breath.
Questions about elemi
What does elemi smell like in perfume?
Elemi smells peppery, lemony and fresh with a soft resinous, frankincense like depth. It is unusual in being a resin that works in the opening of a fragrance.
Where does elemi come from?
Elemi is the resin of Canarium luzonicum, the pili tree, which is native to the Philippines and grows nowhere else.
Which of your fragrances contain elemi?
Paradis de Bleu and Impériale Oud both open with Philippine elemi.
The Perfumer · Musk de Lumière
Same family
